Robin Tells Her Kids How She Met Their Father on 'HIMYM' (VIDEO)

It was a gotcha episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' (Mon., 8PM ET on CBS), picking up on events right where we left them with Robin and Barney in the bathroom of Marshall and Lily's suburban house. And once Barney stopped getting punched in the face for saying the wrong thing, he revealed he was excited to be a father.

Robin then borrowed the conceit of the show, by talking to her future children, telling them their story. Only their story turned into little more than a fantasy, as it was slowly revealed throughout the episode that Robin not only was not pregnant right now, but she could never have children. For a girl who never wanted kids, this should have been great news.

It wasn't.

The writing in this episode was top-notch, opting for realism in Robin's dealing with this news. She refused to tell any of her friends, because she knew how they would react and wasn't prepared to deal with it. But Ted, easily the most empathetic of the group, still knew something was wrong, and decided he was going to cheer her up even if she wouldn't admit what it was.

We were impressed as well by his AC/DC Christmas lights rig in the apartment, and even more impressed that the writers stuck to their guns and didn't have Robin reveal anything, though Ted's narration made it clear that eventually they found out. It was a very strong outing and a powerful way to pull the rugs out from under us after leaving us last time with the belief that she was pregnant.

As a counterbalance to the heaviness of Robin's story, we got a glimpse into how the show would handle suburban comedy, and it left me feeling even stronger that we'd be in good hands if the show were to start shifting some of its storytelling into this area. In fact, it may well reinvigorate some of the comedy, with such a new area to play with.

Marshall and Lily are savvy New Yorkers, but the suburbs is a monster that's outsmarting them at every turn, as the neighborhood kid did this time around with his crazy party while "Mr. E" was trapped on the roof.

There is plot twists, there is dream sequences, and then there is just plain lying to viewers, which is what this episode was. It was a plain old lie. Good writing is not to say one thing and then at the end say actually we lied.

This sort of garbage is what they pulled in the beginning of the series to try and hook us and keep us along long enough for syndication. They're going to get two more seasons and they have their syndication so there is no need for this kind of nonsense. I once commented (probably somewhere on this site) that this show is at its best when it's moving the plot forward, I see now how stupid I was. The plot never moves forward, and for no good reason. It's 22 minutes a week and I'm well invested so I will ride it out to the end, but if I had a nielson box I would watch the show somewhere else, and I certainly won't DVR it.

Plot twists and dream sequences ARE lies. They LIE to you. Maybe not quite as brutally, but they are nonetheless lies. Always. That doesn't make it bad.This episodes wasn't structured to screw us over, it was structured to set up the change that will take place for Robin over the course of this Season. In the space of one episode she's gone from not wanting kids, to imagining telling them the story of how they came into existence...it's a tragic thing that will surely transform the character. THAT is not bullshit. It's called development, which is something the character really needs, especially if the writers plan to do what I'm sure they'll do, and bring Robin and Barney togehter - they both have a lot to grow, and this is the start of that growth, that story.It's effective, and realistic (well, not the Marshall storyline, no one can possibly stay on a roof all night during winter weather...c'mon, writers, I know the focus was on Robin's storyline, but that was a but weak.)